Ivan Rakitic believes Barcelona’s treble-winning triumph last season means they will have to get used to doing things the hard way, suggesting that the odds are being deliberately stacked against the Blaugrana.

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The Croatia midfielder was reacting to his team’s 2-1 loss against former club Sevilla on Saturday, which handed the reigning champions their second-successive away loss following a 4-1 drubbing at Celta Vigo.

Circumstances certainly seemed to conspire against Barca on Saturday as the woodwork prevented them from scoring on four occasions, adding to a sense within the club that little is going in their favour at the moment.

Indicating the indignant mindset inside the camp, Rakitic complained: “We won everything last season and now everyone is against the champions.

“It is normal for them to be against us. Sometimes it’s sad, but also it gives us more strength to keep going.”

Barca’s sense of injustice stems from a series of injury blows which have decimated the squad during the opening weeks of the season, with the rejection of a number of strong penalty appeals doing little to improve their mood.

The club’s ‘us-against-theworld’ suspicions have been further strengthened by other factors such as a four-game ban handed out to Gerard Pique at the start of the season, along with FIFA’s refusal to allow them to register summer signing Arda Turan as a replacement for long-term injury victim Rafinha.

And a similar argument was laid out by fellow midfielder Sergio Busquets, who echoed Luis Enrique’s pre-match suggestions of a conspiracy against the club.

“It’s true that we won everything last season and maybe there are people who always want the other team to win,” he said. “We’re at the end of a long period with lots of games, and we haven’t been able to register players. There have been injuries and all these things have come together, but we have to approach our games without making excuses.”